Black theater began slowly and with significant difficulty. Many black actors and playwrights fought to preserve their work in the face of rampant, white bastardization of their cultural art/dialogue. Over time, black theater rose on the wave of black musicals and the Harlem Renaissance. Eventually, black actors and playwrights established their own position in the realm of theater, enabling them to articulate dialogue in a theatrical way about real issues that they faced. However, over the years following the Great Depression, theaters and plays began to dwindle- black theater/plays even more so. Over the decades, black theater slowly came back to vitality; the evolving society creating new dialogue and new issues for black plays to address. While black theater has been the forum for many civil rights/ race issues and a medium for cultural expression, there are still obstacles that black actors and playwrights face and old wounds that still haven’t healed. Black theater is a largely significant part of black history and culture and is something to preserve and maintain while it continues to grow and develop.